Injury & Incentive
by W5Lex
Summary: Booth is shot and has a long recovery ahead. Brennan looks on in disappointment when his determination seems to disappear, and decides she must intervene.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: NEW FIC! Sorry it took so long, hopefully you'll like it... As it stands now, it's 4 chapters, but that may change. Those who read my last Bones fic will know I updated every two days. For this one, it's probably going to be every 3 b/c it needs more work. Personally, I quite like this one : ) Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1:**

"Booth!" Brennan yelled the warning to her partner as the two shots were fired from across the room, simultaneously adjusting her position. She didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second, but as the feeling of dread washed through her, she knew it was too late. Her finger squeezed the trigger, and the emerging bullet tore into the man's shoulder blade. The irrational part of her brain told her to go for the kill, but as always, rational prevailed and she settled for painful. He crumpled to the ground and a couple of the men in SWAT uniform bent down to restrain him, trying to minimise his injury at the same time.

Brennan dived down to beside where Booth lay, immediately applying pressure to the wound on his leg. Her eyes widened as she took a peek at the injury, blood now steadily seeping through the minute gaps between her fingers. She brushed away a stray hair with her bloodied hand, "Booth? Booth, you're gonna be alright. Try and stay calm." Despite her words, Booth saw the panic in her big blue eyes. He did as she said though, trying to steady his breaths as she inhaled deeply with him. Booth wished he could say that the sensation was an unfamiliar one, but this wasn't the first time he'd been shot, and it quite possibly wouldn't be the last. He silently thanked God that he'd had the time to put the vest on, or he knew the man wouldn't have aimed for the leg.

Booth's eyes closed for a minute, and he flickered them every few seconds for Brennan's benefit. As he listened to the darkened room around him, he could hear the unrestrained shouts of his assailant; Brennan had shot him. Then came the hum of relatively calm voices of the SWAT team as they tended to him. Booth let out a sigh of relief as he heard the sirens of the ambulance approaching.

"Booth, open your eyes. The ambulance is here. You're gonna be alright." He wanted to open his mouth, to assure her that he would be okay. But he couldn't, so he looked into her eyes, guessing that what she found there was probably doing more harm than good, but unable to look away nonetheless.

Too soon, her face had been pulled away, replaced by the EMT's. Their hands were all over him immediately, but the leg had dulled, barely noticeable as they tugged and pushed on it. In fact, he probably wouldn't have noticed had it not been for the words of the young guy looming over him, "I'm going to have to apply some pressure. This may hurt a bit." Booth just nodded and continued to focus on breathing.

"Agent Booth, we're going to take you to the hospital, try and stay calm for me."

Finally, Booth managed to summon the energy to open his mouth to talk, "Bones?... Bones?"

Her face came into view and Booth _almost _smiled. "Booth. It's alright. I'll follow you in the car. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you. We all will." She lifted a hand to his face to stroke it momentarily, and then she was gone again. And Booth was alone. He closed his eyes, ignoring the protests of the EMT's as they lifted him into the back of the ambulance. He wasn't an idiot, he knew he wasn't going to die, but it didn't stop the whole experience from being bloody scary. He winced as something, he guessed it was probably an IV, was pushed into a vein in his arm.

Booth lay still for another few seconds, before the ambulance picked up speed. An oxygen mask was now covering his mouth, and he breathed deeply, trying desperately to keep calm. He knew that the most he could do to help now was to try and lower his blood pressure, minimise the blood loss, so that was what he focused on. Doing his best to tune out the loud noise of the siren, he closed his eyes in an attempt to ignore the less-than-soothing motion of the ambulance, and breathed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's added this/me to an alert/favourite list. Here's the next chapter as promised.  
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**Chapter 2:**

The less than soothing ride to the hospital took only a few minutes. Before Booth had even realised that they had arrived, the back door of the ambulance was being opened, and he was pulled out onto a trolley. They rushed him into the clinically white building, and as they rolled him into the ER, he tried to verbalise his concerns for the person he longed to see, "Where's Bones?" The words came out slowly and his voice faltered more than once. Realising that they would have no idea who he meant, he forced another sentence out of his dry mouth, "Brennan, where's Temperance Brennan?"

A doctor looked down at him, his eyes a little too dismissive for Booth's liking. "She's just outside," his eyes flitted in the direction of the door he'd been pushed through, "You can see her in a minute. We just need to get your condition stabilised." Booth tried to sit up, but was swiftly pushed back down by a nurse. He closed his eyes again, recalling a day they'd spent together last week, and doing everything to keep calm and avert his attention away from his injuries and the conversation of the medical staff. Only a few indecipherable words slipped through his barrier. He was sure Brennan had mentioned them at some point, but he had no idea what they meant; perhaps that was a blessing.

Eventually, he felt a cold rush up his arm, and he succumbed to the drowsiness, rendering him unconscious.

**BONES-BONES-BONES-BONES-BONES**

As Brennan watched from the window, she could see something was wrong. She was left alone, with the others still in the waiting room, and even _she _was able to read the faces of the medical staff in the room; they had come across a problem. She burst through the door, glimpsing the bloodied leg, only to be hurried out again by a forceful nurse.

Brennan's protests and insistence that she was a doctor – no need to mention that she wasn't a _practicing _doctor - went either unheard or unnoticed.

She paced the hall she stood in for a further ten minutes, before finally a doctor came to speak to her. "Temperance Brennan?" he asked. She nodded in response and closed in on him. However irrational she knew it to be, her face had worry written all over it. "Miss Brennan," for the first time in her life she let the mistake go, too concerned to bother correcting him. "The bullets that hit Agent Booth have torn two of the ligaments in his right knee and thigh. It's vital that we are able to operate on him immediately to carry out a reconstructive surgery."

Brennan's face remained contorted, "So do it."

The doctor looked at her for a moment longer, "Miss Brennan, you are the listed medical proxy. We need your written consent to go ahead with the surgery."

Brennan's eyes widened, _Why on earth am _I _Booth's proxy? He has a brother…_ She asked for some further information, and the doctor, finally realising that Brennan was well-informed, spouted out an explanation filled with anatomical jargon.

If it were possible, Brennan's face would have grown more concerned, she knew exactly what it all meant. Booth could possibly never regain full use of his leg; that would crush him. Without hesitation, she let her rational mind take over and signed the form, knowing that it would be his only chance at full recovery.

As his body was wheeled out and waited at the elevator doors, Brennan leaned forward to place a hand on his lifeless cheek. Booth's usually animated face didn't look right without a smile. The ping of the elevator chimed, and Booth was whisked away before she had a chance to take it all in.

Deflated and worried for her best friend and partner, she turned and walked towards the waiting room, a tear rolling down her cheek. She didn't even want to think about what it would do to Booth if he were unable to use his dominant leg.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This is now only four chapters. I'll be uploading the final instalment tomorrow : ) Hope everyone is enjoying it!**

**Chapter 3:**

The rest of that day was agony. Four hours later, only Angela and Brennan remained. The others had trudged home on hearing Brennan's promise of a call if Booth woke up. They sat in silence until finally, six hours after she'd signed the consent form, a doctor walked towards them.

Brennan stood up in a anticipation of news, "Dr. Brennan," he must have guessed when he'd realised the extent of Brennan's knowledge, "Agent Booth is out of surgery, he should wake up any minute. You're welcome to sit in his room whilst you wait." She felt the wave of relief flood through her, though she knew that they were in no way out of the woods yet.

She nodded and looked towards Angela who shook her head, "No, sweetie, he'll want to see you. Don't worry, I won't move."

Brennan turned and followed the doctor.

She walked into the room to find Seeley Booth, laid down on a bed, his eyes shut, looking calm. His leg was heavily bandaged, and a splint held it straight.

She sat in silence for almost half an hour before his eyes began to flicker to life and a quiet groan escaped his lips. The stiffness stopped him from moving his head too much, but his eyes darted around the room until they eventually settled on Brennan. "Hey," he whispered. "What happened?" He remembered being shot, but not much else.

Brennan leaned a little closer to him, and briefly checked his vitals on the monitor. She made the conscious decision to skip the part where Booth would inevitably ask her to repeat the sentence in English, instead putting it as plainly as she could first time around, "You got shot twice in the leg. You tore a ligament in your knee, and another in your thigh. The doctor had to perform reconstructive surgery to make sure they heal properly." The doctor had briefly explained how successful the operation had been as they had walked to the room, this would be the difficult part. She looked down at her entwined hands, "Booth. You'll be alright, but the doctors say the rehabilitation period will be extremely painful," she swallowed hard, "and there's a small possibility that you won't regain full use of your leg."

There was a long silence, he'd understood every word and his face dropped. She could see the plain disappointment as she looked up to meet his gaze, and she lifted a hand to comfortingly place it on top of his. His eyes were shining with excess fluid and she threw away all the rationale she had, and just focused on trying to reassure him. To an extent, the words she offered were true, "Booth, you're the strongest man I know. I know a brilliant physiotherapist. You're going to be fine, and we'll all be here every step of the way." There was a moment of silence, "Parker's coming to see you tomorrow." Even that didn't seem to raise his spirits, and Brennan could feel her own eyes welling up.

Booth stared into space, trying to take in the words he had just heard. The implication hit him and he stayed silent. Even the face that he had been longing to see - the face of the woman he loved - provided little comfort. He tried to see the not-so-bad side of things. He knew that the FBI would still have him doing deskwork, so he hadn't lost his job. Except that he had, if he ever regained use of his leg, no way would he ever _enjoy_ his work again. And not only would he lose his job, he'd lose his _life._

He tried a different tact. He knew he should be grateful that this was the _worst _injury he'd suffered in his time as a sniper and agent. So many men had died fighting, and he was crying over something that might not even be an issue; Brennan had said that there was a strong possibility that he _would _regain full use.

But still, he stared into space, silent.

Finally, a few minutes later, he returned his gaze to Brennan. If there was anything that could ease his pain right now, it was her. He opened his mouth ad the words came out quiet, croaky, "Stay with me?"

There were tears in her own eyes and he watched as she did her best to muster a smile, "Of course, I need to go and talk to Angela, but I'll be back in a minute. And then I'll stay for as long as you want." He didn't say anything, just nodded.

Once she was out of the room, Booth's tears flowed more freely, but still, he stayed quiet.

Brennan was pulled into a hug by Angela, who immediately asked after Booth. She quickly explained his condition, "Sweetie, do you want me to stay?"

Brennan shook her head, she had no intention of breaking her promise to Booth and there was no point in the both of them being there, "No. Can you call the others, tell them they should visit tomorrow afternoon, and call Rebecca. Make sure Parker can come tomorrow."

"Sure."

"And Angela, thank you."

Brennan hugged her again, and wiped away the tears as she walked back towards the room.

By the time she had returned, Booth too had rid his face of the tears, and he attempted a smile. It didn't help to ease Brennan's pain though. The expression was barely there, and didn't even come close to reaching his eyes.

Booth transferred his weight onto his arms as he tried to push himself to the side of the bed. She went to sit down in the armchair before realising what Booth was trying to do. "Are you sure?"

He nodded and she lowered the bar to his left on the bed; the one furthest from his leg. She lay down next to him, the small bed forcing her close and listened to his breathing.

Determined to ensure he was okay, she waited for his breathing to grow deep and as relaxed as it could be, before letting her own eyes slide shut, and giving in to her fatigue.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

_Six weeks later…_

A week and a half after Booth's surgery, he had been encouraged to begin physiotherapy. As promised, Brennan's acquaintance had agreed to visit Booth in the hospital, but so far, had been useless.

She was one of the best in the country, yet no physio was able to do anything when their patient was so depressed that he wouldn't even _attempt _to get out of bed.

By this point, the doctors had said that he should be able to walk at least a few paces unaided, but he was yet to take his first steps.

Brennan hadn't slept a single night of the first week in her own apartment. Now she reluctantly left him looking in exactly the same mood as he had been in that first night, and it was killing her. It was killing her that the man she loved, was no longer the same man. She hadn't seen a solitary smile grace his lips since the shooting, and what hurt the most, was that there was nothing she could do.

That was what she had thought for the last five weeks, until Angela had meddled. The physiotherapist had left after their fifteenth session together, again reporting to Brennan that he still had not left the bed. Angela had turned to Brennan with a small smile, "Honey, I have an idea. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but I don't think we have a choice."

Brennan's mouth had dropped open as she explained. "None of what you just said was true, that will never work," was her initial reaction, but what choice did she have? Sure that the scheme wouldn't work, but without any idea of what else they could do to help him, Brennan had agreed to give it a go. Two minutes later, after a pep talk from Angela, she had let herself into Booth's room.

She kept her face straight and stern, then looked to Booth. His eyes were dead, all hint of charm and emotion had left the day he'd been shot, "Booth, get up."

He looked up at her for a few seconds, a little taken back by the sharp tone to her voice.

He didn't move so she had another go, "I said get up." Her voice had raised a little in volume, but it was still calm.

He frowned at her. "Wha- No, I can't."

She continued the 'conversation,' her voice getting louder again, "Booth! GET UP!" This time her words were less calm, the frustration of the past six weeks rising to the surface.

He straightened up in his bed but made no effort to get out of it, "NO! Why?"

She looked at him straight in the eyes, unrecognisable as they were. If this didn't work, she would be devestated, "Booth, just get up, okay?" Her voice had softened a little, but she still sounded furious, "I need you to get up. I have something I want to do and I can't do it with you lying down in bed."

He still looked reluctant, though the creased brow looked something like curiosity and confusion. "No."

"Dammit Booth!" It had raised in volume again, "Just get up. If you won't do it for me, then do it for your son. You think Parker wants a Dad who can't play ball with him? Who can't even walk?"

She'd struck a nerve, and she saw the hurt on his face. She almost forgot her objective, aching to apologize and wrap her arms around him, but she didn't; she held her ground.

Ad it paid off. After a further ten seconds of tense silence, he threw the covers off himself, and slowly swung his legs around so that his toes touched the floor.

He looked at her in hope of a hand up. She moved forward, but it didn't take him long to realise that she wasn't going to help, she wanted to see him do it himself.

Carefully, he eased himself off the side of the bed, slowly putting more and more of his weight onto his legs. The majority of it went to his left, but his right twinged a little with pain, and he winced. Eventually, after shifting to find the most comfortable position, he straightened his body as much as possible, and met her gaze. "What?"

She looked down at his feet and a small smiled tugged at her lips. For the first time in six weeks, he was on his feet. And he stood completely unaided, segregated from everything around him. The frustration and annoyance had melted away though her smile remained small as she tentatively took a step towards him to close the distance between their bodies. Then, hesitating for only a short second, she lifted a hand to his unshaven face, and pushed her lips to his. _His _lips were frozen for a second, before he caught up with what was happening, and responded.

Wanting to keep as much leverage as possible, she reluctantly pulled away. His eyes stayed closed for a few seconds, but when he finally opened them, she saw that a little of the old Booth had returned. Taking her bottom lip between her teeth and removing her hand from his face, she took two strides back.

He smiled very slightly, realising what she was doing, and sighed. Holding onto the monitor – not for support, but for balance – he paused for a few seconds, then pushed his right leg forward with all of his strength. The leg felt dull and heavy, and again, there was a slight twinge, but it was bearable. It wasn't the pain, but the fear of never walking again that had held him back. His strides were half the length of Brennan's so it took him four to reach her.

She smiled at him as he took the final step with a groan, bringing his face to be just two inches from hers. He smiled a little as well, and lifted a stiff arm to her cheek. He stroked it once with the back of his hand, then closed the distance between their lips, crushing hers to his. The kiss was gentle but passionate, and though it lasted only a few seconds, it managed to convey all of the feelings that had been building in the five years they'd worked together.

Booth pulled away, enough to rest his forehead against hers, his eyes still closed, his hand still tangled in her auburn hair. She could see the smile on his lips as he spoke, "Thank you."

She tilted his head with her cool fingers, "Look at me Booth." He did, slowly opening his eyes. She couldn't help but smiling, as if for no reason. Maybe _he_ couldn't see the reason, but she could. The colour had returned to his face, he looked like he was gaining strength, and his eyes; his eyes now shone, not with tears, but with…_Booth. _The character had returned, and they told their own story once again. It went against all logic and reasoning, but as Brennan stared into them, she felt as though she could see into his soul, and she could feel the chocolate brown orbs piercing _her_s. "You're going to be okay, you know. I'm going to help you, we all will. You'll be okay."

Her smile grew even more at the appearance of her favourite expression. The charm smile effortlessly took its place on his features. Sure, it wasn't quite as cocky as it usually was, and maybe not quite as wide, but it was there, and it reached his eyes.

And in that moment, there was a change for Booth. Something had changed beyond the obvious. He could see that she meant it, and for her to ignore the empiricist in her and assure him that he would be alright, she really must have believed it. And she had been right about Parker, he wanted to get better for Parker, and for Bones.

Brennan looked at him strangely as he let out a small laugh, looking down. He tilted his head to look at her again, and another soft laugh escaped him lips. She mentally shrugged her shoulders, and kissed him again. He sighed with satisfaction at the sensation of her soft lips on his, and again as their tongues fought – without any actual fight – for dominance. Finally, she pulled away. "Parker will be outside, he's coming to see you today. Do you want me to go get him?"

Booth nodded and she left the room with him standing, still unsupported. Determined to lighten the mood of his son, and horrified when he thought to how he'd behaved last time he'd visited, he walked all the way around the bed to sit in the armchair in the far corner. Only a couple of seconds later, the door opened, "Where's Daddy?" Parker turned to look up at Brennan as he saw the empty bed.

"Over here bub." Parker's head reflexively turned to the sound and his face broke into a huge smile.

He ran the short distance and the smile remained as Booth scooped him into his arms and set him on his good knee. "Daddy, you're better." Booth could see by the look on his son's face that it meant the world to him, and it dawned on him that the last few weeks had upset Parker more than he knew. He pulled the boy to him, breathing in the familiar smell of his shampoo and holding him close.

Brennan watched the interaction with a smile from her place, perched on the bed. Booth met her gaze and returned a smile; he would be okay.

**A/N: Okay, so this is where I had originally planned to end the fic. BUT, if enough people would like me to continue, then I **_**could **_**do a chapter for when Booth leaves the hospital, or a chapter for his first day back at work, or both. Or anything else anybody would like to see.**

**Anyway, if you guys would like to see anymore, let me know via the review button, and let me know what you think about what I've written : )**


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